Frequently Asked Questions

Are your cheeses vegetarian?

Yes, all our cheeses are made using vegetarian rennet, and they’re all organic too.

What are your delivery charges?

For cheese orders of £30 or over delivery is free for most addresses. For cheese orders of under £30 delivery is £7 for most addresses. We use an overnight courier and although we try to absorb delivery costs as much as possible, the cost of delivery to addresses in some parts of the UK, particularly the Highlands, Islands and Northern Ireland, result in additional charges. Full details are on the delivery page. If you have any questions about delivery costs please contact us on 01557 814040 or email hello@theethicaldairy.co.uk

Where can I buy your milk?

At the moment we do not sell fresh milk. There are several reasons for this, not least the practicalities of packing and distributing the quantity of milk that we produce. Given that we are very remote from any cities, it is much more practical from a logistical point of view for us to turn our milk into cheese (and ice cream) and distribute that. If you would like to purchase milk from a cow with calf dairy there are several who can courier milk. Take a look at The Calf at Foot Dairy and at the farms listed on Cow-Calf Dairies.

Are you slaughter free?

No. Our goal is to produce food sustainably and affordably from land that could not otherwise be used for arable crops, while providing a good quality of life for our animals and good working conditions for our employees. If you are interested in slaughter free dairy we recommend ahimsa milk.

What happens to your male calves?

The male calves stay with their mums too. After they are weaned, at around 5-6 months of age, they remain on the farm in their peer groups. They will eventually become beef. If you would like to know in more detail what happens to all our animals and at what stage, we have explained our system of farming in detail in this blog post. We will be adding to this post as other questions arise so that we have a full explanation of our system in one place. If you have any other questions about our farming system that you would like explained please contact us and we will add to the blog.

Is calling yourself ‘ethical’ a marketing stunt?

No. The word ethical came from visitors to our sister business Cream o’ Galloway, where we have been hosting near daily farm tours for around 18 years. It is the questions from our visitors that are largely responsible for us questioning industry norms. ‘Why do you separate the calves from their mums?’ was one of the most frequently asked questions on our tours. Which prompted us to explore ‘what would happen if we didn’t?’. We have been talking about this system with visitors to our farm for about five years now. It is they who started to describe what we do as ‘ethical’. We were looking for a way to explain the totality of what we do, including the social and environmental aspects. That’s where the name came from.